Beautiful Liar - Linda Laderman

Sitting in the back seat

I watch my mother pull

our green 56’ chevy up over a curb

Hypnotique and menthols

sting my tongue

Embers flicker up front

Sirens scream behind us

Traffic merges, a man emerges

She rolls her window down

Lady you were doing 80

You have a child back there

In a voice sweet and sticky

She sugar talks that cop

like a woman who just met

the man of her dreams

Oh, we were just on our way

to the Toddle House for pie

It’s half price after midnight

Outside, he blows his breath

into his cupped hands

I’m thinking he wants

to touch the thick wavy hair

spiraling past her shoulders

Her moon shaped breasts

mashed up against

the half-opened window

Her top two buttons askew

Ringless fingers brush her lips

A smile on the verge of a lie

Officer, my brother’s the mayor

The cop shakes his finger at her

Laughs, then lets her go

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Linda Laderman grew up in Toledo, Ohio. She lives and works in the Detroit area and is grateful for the opportunity to live in an era where technology has helped her find a community of writers that continues to grow.